Take Me Away
by Kei Tree
Summary: CH 11 UP FINISHED! Sarah Williams had dealt with enough of life's blows. So she decided its time for a new life. Enter one Goblin King and the words that started it all... Take me away!
1. Prologue: The Wish

AN Revised: I went through, made things flow better, spruced stuff up, and plan on adding   
a new chapter shortly, promise. Any comments would be welcome.  
  
AN: Bloody ideas, won't go away. Hello kids, here's the beginning of another. Just a taste.   
Let me know if you find it to your liking cause, honestly, I haven't the foggiest as to where   
its gonna go. Alway fun right? ;) Happy Early New Years!  
***************************** Take Me Away: Prologue *****************************  
  
William Shakespeare famously said "Lord, what fools these mortals be..." Sarah Williams was   
in perfect agreement with this assessment. She just found it a bit lacking and amended it,   
if only in the relative privacy of her mind, to "Lord, what fools life makes of us all."   
  
Mortal, immortal, human, or, well, Other. Like Sidhe. Fae. Goblin King...  
  
She sighed and stared at the open book before her, as if it was foreign and not something she   
had prized, cherished, and abhorred in equal measure for most of her life. It was tattered   
and torn, worn with wear and tears, both of hope and utter despair.   
  
Sarah was having a bad day. Actually, she was having a spectacularly bad day that ended a   
streak of rotten luck that seemed to be running on something near thirteen months. She figured  
it was a good sign, or, well, a bad one, but when it came right down to it, today was a bloody   
sign.   
  
Life obviously was determined to give her the short end of the proverbial stick. So Sarah was   
just going to have to create an entirely new life. Nothing to it.   
  
She hoped.  
  
Its not like hers was going well. She willed the tears away brusquely, determined not to let   
the emotional damn break that she had spent so much time and willpower constructing. She   
was stronger than her pain. She had to be.   
  
It just might prove a bit tricky. Well, a certain frigid monarch might not take so kindly to   
her manipulations. She doubted she was on his favorite person list but then, she doubted HE   
was on a lot of favorite person lists himself so it worked out, sorta.  
  
Sarah reached out and stroked the simple printed words with fingers that trembled a bit more   
than they really should have before taking a deep breath for strength. She took another, just   
for luck (even if it had forsaken her), and spoke the words she had once swore would never   
fall from her lips again.  
  
"I wish the goblins would come and take me away, right now!" 


	2. Chapter One: Tea?

AN: To everyone who reviewed the prologue, ya'll are absolutely awesome. I love you all.   
  
**************************** Take Me Away: Chapter One ******************************  
  
He didn't appear immediately. It would have surprised her if he had. He was Jareth after all.   
He played his games but he never followed another's rules. He would come when he wished it,   
not before, but he WOULD come. To Sarah, in the end, that was all that mattered.  
  
So little else was left.  
  
She was sitting curled in an overstuffed chair when the clock struck midnight, a worn copy of   
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" in her hands when the room filled slowly with the scent of magic.   
Or maybe it was simply Jareth's magic. It made her bedroom smell like winter and snow freshly   
fallen. It made her think of darkness and ice and of skating under the moonlight. It made   
her feel free, in a dangerously seductive way, but then, Jareth was seduction. It was what   
he did best.  
  
Sarah shivered in the imagined chill as it cut through the flannel of her pajamas. The lights   
flickered once and died, casting the room in complete darkness. She started to go to the   
window but thought better of it.  
  
There was a heartbeat of silence, two, before the darkness condensed and died and the room was   
bathed in the silver of magic. The Goblin King stood before her, terrible in his resplendent   
glory. She had feared and defied him as a child. She was too old for both; Sarah could admit   
his beauty, and vulnerability, to herself now.   
  
And he was vulnerable, in ways even he didn't completely know. And that made him dangerous,   
like a wild animal. Beautiful, unfathomable, and untamable. Sarah Williams had had ten years   
to contemplate the Goblin King. She didn't know him in all his icy remoteness, but she   
understood him on levels she doubted she understood herself.  
  
She feared he understood her as well.   
  
"Sarah..." Her name rolled odd and foreign on his tongue, like a spice, and though his face   
was impassive she could sense his surprise, and indecision, as she lounged in her pajamas,   
reading glasses on the tip of her nose. "You've grown up."   
  
She shrugged at the slightly obscene innuendo behind the innocent words and rose, stretching   
leisurely. She wasn't one to be intimidated, not anymore. Life had made her strong. It   
hadn't given her much choice. "Children have the tendency to do that, despite their best   
intentions."   
  
He smiled despite himself, she could tell, and they shared, briefly, a sort of private joke   
from the tempestuous time when Sarah had first learned that childhood couldn't last forever   
as she despaired among the maze of Jareth's kingdom.   
  
Happiness could last forever though, through him. She had heard the words he had spoken to   
her, but she hadn't understood them until years later, until despair, once sparingly tasted,   
had become all that she had known.. Jareth had offered her forever once. Come hell, high water,   
or the Bog of Eternal Stench, he would again. She was counting on it. She was depending upon it.   
  
"Would you like some tea, or should we be going immediately?" Sarah put the book gently down on   
her chair and watched him expectantly. She laughed as he fumbled, cool arrogance shaken by her   
indifference.   
  
"You mock me?" came the dangerous voice of an irate King.   
  
She smiled gently, a gentle unfurling curl of her lips, and shook her head. "You amuse me.   
Really, Jareth," Sarah reprimanded with mild reproach, "did you really think I would have   
changed so little?"   
  
His intelligent gaze hardened and narrowed as they studied her anew, analyzing, contemplating.   
"You're manipulating me."   
  
"Very good Jareth, but then, I learned from the best. What kind of tea would you like, green   
or decaff?"   
  
He trailed behind her as she shuffled to the kitchen in her slippers, his dark cape billowing   
behind him, brows drawn in a severe line. "Sarah..."   
  
She ignored the silk of warning in his voice as she dug through her pantry for the tea.   
  
"Sarah."   
  
She turned and held two packets up. "Green of decaff Jareth, its hardly a difficult   
question."   
  
"I don't want your tea. I want to know what game you're playing."   
  
"Green or decaff?"  
  
"Sarah."  
  
"Green or decaff?" She watched with continued amusement as he threw his finely gloved hands in   
the air with ill concealed disgust.   
  
"Green."   
  
"Thank you."   
  
Sarah bustled about the small, cramped kitchen of her apartment, grateful that Jareth's magic   
seemed to light the room well enough that she fetched her kettle and filled it with water. She   
could hear him behind her as he sat with boneless grace, sprawled in a chair at her breakfast   
table, and the gentle tapping of what she assumed to be either his boot or riding crop, leather   
against leather.   
  
Her hands shook more than she would have liked as she filled the tea pot and turned on the   
stove but then, that couldn't really be helped since she was terrified. Sarah Williams had   
become a very good actress in the years since she had last confronted the Goblin King. She   
was good at hiding things, even from herself, and she had hidden how frightening the Goblin   
King truly was.  
  
Silence fell heavy and uncomfortable between them before Jareth chose to break it.   
  
"Sarah, what do you want?"   
  
He sounded weary.   
  
She turned and faced him, eyes flickering to the riding crop that was tapping a tuneless   
rhythm against the dark leather of his thigh.   
  
"Exactly what I asked for, for once."   
  
She watched the fine muscles in his jaw clench with detached fascination before he replied,   
softly, "I don't believe you."   
  
Sarah laughed brightly and flashed him a dazzling smile. "Oh Jareth, I never lie. I may not   
reveal the entire truth but I never lie!"   
  
He stood with a quickness that left her breathless and towered over her, disbelief plain on the   
elegant planes of his sculptured face, power pouring from him in waves that left her dizzy.   
  
Hello intimidation. She spoke too soon.  
  
One gloved hand reached up in a single fluid movement to cup her cheek boldly as long fingers   
danced with restless movement across the taunt firmness of her skin. He dipped his head low   
until full lips were breathing warm air onto hers and white hair spun gold obscured her vision   
of her small, dark kitchen.   
  
"Is this what you asked for Sarah because when you called you asked, you gave yourself away to   
the goblins, to me?" He grinned ferally as he felt her breath hitch. Jareth's two toned gaze   
met and challenged hers.   
  
She shocked him by laughing, weakly, but laughing. "Yup."  
  
His hand withdrew as if scalded. "Yup?" Jareth demanded somewhat weakly himself.  
  
The tea pot shrieked, startling them both. Sarah turned back to her task and retrieved two   
cups, pouring the tea and humming merrily under her breath, a hint of hysteria to the melody.   
He watched, somewhat wide eyed as she handed him his tea.   
  
"Do you want sugar with that?"   
  
Jareth swallowed, heavily. "Two lumps please." 


	3. Chapter Two: 13 Hour Nap

AN: Mega thanks to everyone who reviewed, ya'll are awesome! Nearly 25 reviews for a   
prologue and chapter one, too cool! I've missed FF.Net... =) A short chapter but, it needed   
to end where it did. For comedic impact. Trust me. And well, reviews will definitely   
encourage me to write faster! ;)   
  
***************************** Take Me Away: Chapter Two ****************************  
  
They drank their tea in an uncomfortable silence that Jareth finally broke, "Why did you wish   
yourself away Sarah?"   
  
She smiled at him and it was wistful and heartbreakingly sad. "Because I wanted to go."   
  
The Goblin King sighed and set his cup down with force enough to rattle the saucer. "Despite   
what you may still think the Labyrinth isn't a game! This isn't some thirteen hour vacation   
you can simply take from reality Sarah..."   
  
"I certainly hope not. And despite what you may think Jareth, its very simple. I wished   
myself away. I have to go."   
  
He stood fluidly, forbidding and furious as he towered above her. "Then let us not waste any   
more time on pleasantries then, Sarah." Her name was a sneer. She rolled her eyes at his   
temper tantrum and took his outstretched hand without hesitation.   
  
"Fine," she spat as she set her tea down with equal force.   
  
"Fine!"  
  
She had an instant to contemplate the cool silk of his gloves as his fingers tightened around   
hers before magic, heady and heavy, filled the air with the scent of deep winter and they were   
transported to the land she had scorned so long ago.   
  
**************************************************************************************  
  
Sarah ignored the Goblin King after delicately extracting her hand from his grip. They were   
standing on the hill that overlooked the maze, with the Goblin City and Castle in the   
background, where she had first begun her journey so long ago. As captivating as Jareth was   
usually, the Labyrinth was even more alluring. She inhaled deeply, and smiled as air full of   
exotic flowers, trees, and magic bright filled her lungs.   
  
It was dawn and the Labyrinth was bathed in light that tinged it gold. It was every bit as   
beautiful and dangerous as she remembered.  
  
Sarah wasn't sorry she had come. She had left so much behind, for the better.   
  
"You have thirteen hours, you know the drill Sarah."   
  
She glanced at her captor and future ruler and bobbed her head in mild agreement. "Yup."   
  
Jareth glared at her, splendid in his dumfounded fury. "You won't win Sarah, can't..." He   
trailed off as she sat comfortably in the sand and straggling grass. "What are you doing?"   
  
Sarah looked up at him through her lashes as she removed her slippers and buried her toes in   
the sand. It was cool. "Getting comfortable."   
  
He blinked, swallowed, and blinked again before trying to speak. "Pardon?"   
  
She grinned hugely from relief and stretched before lying fully on her back, the back of her   
head propped up with her hands. "I am getting comfortable. I have a feeling that thirteen   
hours is going to go much slower this time."   
  
"Are you telling me that you plan to sit here until you feel like enough time has passed that   
my Labyrinth presents more of a challenge?" Purple was not a good color for Jareth.   
  
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly Jareth. I'm planning on waiting here until thirteen   
full hours have elapsed and you win."   
  
"Are you insane?" he squeaked once he got past his surprise.   
  
The grin grew. "Most assuredly. Insane, incorrigible, crazy, nutters, off my rocker, batty,   
eccentric even. Now go away. I want to take a nap."   
  
"You can't do this!"  
  
Sarah snorted. "Try to stop me." She promptly closed her eyes, truly relaxed for the first   
time in nearly a year.  
  
The irate Goblin King spluttered. "This is not how things are supposed to work!"  
  
She waved a lazy hand in his direction. "It's called manipulation my dear. I did tell you   
I learned from the best. Its my game now and I say checkmate."   
  
His gaze hardened and narrowed. "I don't believe you. You don't have the guts to throw your   
life away Sarah. I know you."   
  
Her voice when she spoke was sleepy already. The sun felt good on her skin. "You know Jareth,   
I don't think you do. And you forget Goblin King, I've always had the guts, simply not the   
brains."   
  
There was a furious silence and when she risked cracking one eye several minutes later he was   
gone. Sarah shrugged and went to sleep. She had thirteen hours to waste. 


	4. Chapter Three: Peachy Keen

AN: First off, ya'll absolutely rock for reviewing, the good, the bad, I read   
each and every one. Here's the next chapter and once again, pardon me for the   
shortness but I felt like something was better than nothing. Hope ya'll agree! ;)  
  
************************ Take Me Away: Chapter Three **************************  
  
He returned twelve hours and forty five minutes later, fifteen minutes before she   
was his forever. She had moved to the fountain that stood before the Labyrinth's   
gates. Sarah had taken off her slippers and was cooling her feet in the water.   
The sun was high in the sky.  
  
Jareth's face was dark and forbidding as he materialized next to her with his usual   
fanfare of magic and glitter. She shivered but otherwise ignored the Goblin King.   
"You're really doing this."   
  
It wasn't a question but Sarah answered anyway, voice tired, weary, and almost bitter.   
"Yes, I am."   
  
"Why?!" The question, demand, hung heavy in the air between them. She paused and thought   
of telling him, if only for a moment, but shrugged the impulse away. Her secrets were   
hers to keep, for now.   
  
"It doesn't matter."   
  
"It matters to me!" The Goblin King's anger was swift and terrible as he knelt beside   
her and glared with eyes so cold they froze. Sarah was no longer entirely in control of   
the situation and she hated it.   
  
"Why do you care?" she asked, a demand of her own. "What does it matter? You've won.   
Don't you see that? In…" Sarah glanced down at her watch, "In ten minutes you will have   
complete and total victory over the only one who has ever, quite literally, bested you at   
your own game. Why do my reasons matter?"  
  
Jareth growled, the sound low and savage in the back of his throat. She almost flinched   
but caught herself, barely. Sarah couldn't contain the tremble that ran through her when   
he reached out with his gloved hand to cup her cheek.   
  
"It matters because this isn't winning Sarah, and you and I both know it. This isn't a   
real game- its a forfeit, a dishonorable defeat. This is surrender."   
  
She smiled, despite herself. "And beating the child I was would have been a worthy   
victory? Do you truly hold the Labyrinth in such low esteem?"   
  
A smile curled on his lips, though she could tell he was fighting it. "Must you always   
twist my words?"  
  
"Merely returning the favor of services rendered so long ago." Sarah winked and drew   
away from his hold before reaching into a pocket and showing him her offering. "Peach?"   
  
Jareth stared at the ripe fruit held in her hand and shook his shaggy head ruefully.   
"Where in the Bog did you get that pray tell?"   
  
Sarah shrugged and gestured in a direction vaguely opposite of the Labyrinth before   
rolling it skillfully down her arms, another trick she had mastered in honor of the   
memory of a certain Goblin King. He watched with half bemused, half wary eyes as she   
stopped its roll and held the fruit poised to her mouth, eyes intent on his.   
  
"If I eat it, will it show me my dreams Jareth?"   
  
"Sarah…"  
  
"Come now Jareth, you offered them to me once. Can't a girl take a second shot?"   
  
He raised sculptured brows. "I do believe I made the offer several times if memory   
serves correctly. You were quite forceful in your refusal. That I do remember."   
  
Her eyes darkened as she looked up at him. "Things change." Sarah took a swift bite of   
the peach as an unseen clock chimed thirteen, sealing her fate, and his. He knelt to   
steady her as the peach took effect almost instantly. "What will I dream of Jareth?"   
Sarah asked unsteadily as she fought sleep.   
  
The Goblin King watched her with grave eyes and sighed deeply. "I wish I knew now Sarah,   
I wish I knew." Her dark eyes closed, taking her secrets with her as he gathered her in   
his arms. She was light, lighter than he could have imagined for a full grown woman, and   
she curled her body towards the warmth of his chest.   
  
Unsettled by the turn of the last thirteen hours he carefully transported them to his   
castle to wait for her to wake. Apart from that, he didn't know. It wasn't often   
immortals were at a loss but for the first time in millennium, the Goblin King didn't   
quite know what to do, either with the woman in his arms or the implications behind her   
desperate but heartfelt wish that had sent her out of her world and so permanently into   
his. 


	5. Chapter Four: Nightmare

AN: Wow, I got lazy again, shame on me! =) Anyway, review, yell, let me know ya'll   
are still reading.  
  
~Kei  
  
************************* Take Me Away: Chapter Four **************************  
  
It was cold in her mind. Sarah realized that first as she drew her arms protectively   
across her chest. The ground beneath her was snow that crunched under the heels of shoes   
she never thought to see again. Her full skirt rustled in the sudden chill breeze as   
silk fluttered behind her in a trail of youth. It smelled like a forest, with trees and   
damp, moist earth, but it was more of a Fun House, with hundreds of mirrors forming a   
twisting corridor that refracted broken parts of her image endlessly into darkness.   
  
It was dark too, night, and when she looked up she could see the stars shining faintly   
against the perfect blackness of the sky of her dream. An owl hooted softly in the   
background and she shivered as she stopped in front of one mirror.   
  
She was dressed as she had been the last time she had truly dreamed, so long ago, in a   
dress, a ball gown of illusion and fancy. Her fingers drifted up against her will to   
rest on the surface of the mirror.   
  
Sarah didn't even flinch as Jareth appeared in the mirror behind her image. He stared   
out at her real form from his prison, gaze inscrutable but curiously soft. "Sarah, what   
is this?"   
  
She ignored the question and stepped closer to the mirror, close enough to study her own   
brown eyes and the circles beneath them. "I look sad," she finally said as her hand fell   
back to her side. Sarah broke the stare with herself to look at Jareth who was watching   
soberly. "Why do I look so sad Jareth?"   
  
He stepped closer to her reflection and put a ghostly hand on one elaborately embroidered   
shoulder. "Tell me Sarah. I can't read minds and, no matter how often I think I have   
you figured out, you constantly surprise me."  
  
Sarah bit her lip and backed slowly away. "I… I don't know."   
  
"I think you do. Why did you call me Sarah? Why did you wish yourself away?"   
  
"I don't, I don't want to know… I don't want to remember!" Sarah continued to back away   
until she bumped into the mirror behind her as Jareth stepped forward, forward, until he   
was pressed against the mirror's glass on the other side, trapped with Sarah's receding   
reflection, his hands helplessly trying to reach the woman who was crumbling before his   
eyes.  
  
The calm confidence, the dry wit were gone like the thin veneer they were. The Sarah   
beneath the façade was a desperately vulnerable woman. The Goblin King didn't know if   
this comforted, or frightened him.   
  
Sarah started to run, from what he couldn't fathom, and he turned to run alongside her,   
the mirror between them as Sarah labored, weeping, crying, attempting frantically to   
escape from the memory of what had driven her to his arms and absolute power.   
  
She ran. He ran. The mortal woman and Goblin King ran the pathways of her mind until   
she collapsed in the snow, breathless, winded, her face red and tear streaked. Jareth   
knelt at the edge of his side of the mirror. "Sarah?" he asked tentatively even as he   
wished he could bridge the distance between them.   
  
She seemed to be ignoring him as she fiddled with her hands as she sat in the snow, her   
immense gown gathered in a torn and tattered train around her, a sea of pearl and gray   
and silver dark against the white of the scuffed snow.   
  
Sarah Williams looked up at the Goblin King and it was his turn to shiver as the   
absolute desolate vacancy in the gaze. "I've had a very bad thirteen months."   
  
"Sarah, tell me!" he commanded, tiring of his ignorance and the fragility of the woman   
who was not the girl who had bested him so many years at a game she had barely   
comprehended.   
  
She swallowed and flinched at his tone but he did not soften his demand. Instead she   
seemed to collapse inwards until she curled into a ball of sobs. The world around them   
broke, shattered, like the dream, the nightmare it was.   
  
Jareth ignored the glass and stepped forward to Sarah's side where he knelt, gloved hands   
stroking her cheek. "Sarah… Sarah…"  
  
**************************************************************************************  
  
"Sarah… Sarah…"  
  
Sarah woke with a start, jerked herself up in an instant and blinked, frightened,   
confused, to find herself in an open and airy bedroom with stone walls and a fireplace   
roaring to provide a steady source of heat. She was in the middle of a huge four post   
bed, buried under piles of covers, and the Goblin King was sitting delicately at the   
edge.  
  
She processed it all in a moment, remembered her dream, and quickly sank back into the   
pillows. "I really hate peaches. Really, really hate them."   
  
"You never enlightened me and I'm running low on patience."   
  
She groaned and started to sit up again before blanching, feeling sick, and lowering   
herself weakly down once again. "Not now Jareth."   
  
He snorted, content in his resumed superiority, but wary of this woman who was so full   
of surprises. "You've become rather commanding in your advanced age."  
  
Sarah sighed and rubbed her forehead. "My head hurts, REALLY hurts."   
  
"I can't imagine why," the Goblin King replied dryly, "with all that going on inside it.   
My head would hurt as well." He tapped his crop on her nose and she jumped with the   
contact.   
  
"Stop that," she snapped crossly. Jareth grinned, almost enjoying the turn this  
unexpected visit was taking. "You don't have to be so damn smug."   
  
"I'm going to be more smug when I find out exactly what you're up to."   
  
"The only thing that's going to be up is my dinner. Some space would be nice. And some   
tea."   
  
"Green or decaff?"   
  
"You're a cretin."   
  
"Sugar?"   
  
She shrieked as he laughed, cackled, almost like the Goblin King of old, from her   
childhood, as he disappeared, leaving the smell of snow and winter forest behind. A tea   
tray appeared on the edge of the bed where he had been, complete with green tea in a   
saucer and two lumps of sugar on the side.   
  
Sarah smiled despite herself but when she reached for the cup her hand still shook.   
She wasn't sure if she had made the right decision, coming here, and it was a bad time   
to start questioning herself about it because Jareth wasn't going to let her go now.   
  
Now that the ball was in his court. 


	6. Chapter Five: Difficult Answers

AN: First off, this is the darkest chapter so far... I'm really trying to combine   
drama and humor so, welcome drama. =) And yes, I updated very quickly because I was   
uch a bum about posting new stuff for so long.  
  
Also, THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed! I've been writing fanfiction for   
years with different styles and subjects and, well, ya'll are my favorite readers   
by far. Everyone is so wonderful about sending feedback (positive, negative,   
suggestions, praise, criticism)... Its wonderful to be able to feel like you're   
growing as a writer. So, thank you, thank you , thank you all for making me want to   
revisit the world of Labyrinth fanfiction time and time again. As always, its   
truly a pleasure...  
  
************************** Take Me Away: Chapter Five *************************  
  
When he returned, like she knew he would, Sarah was sitting in the window seat of the   
room. She would have been mad if she knew how vulnerable she looked, with her long legs   
curled under her as she contemplated the Goblin City in pajamas from Aboveground.   
  
Jareth regarded her from behind, crop twirling through his hand in a lazy arc as he   
studied the problem that was Sarah Williams. The question had become more than the   
simple 'why was she here' and had evolved into the more intriguing 'what in the Bog was   
he going to do with her?'  
  
A part of him always softened under the inquisitive stare of the wounded gaze of the   
woman who had been so much to him through the years. A part of him was always   
fascinated, intrigued, and more often, frustrated by the puzzles she never failed   
to present him with.   
  
A larger part of him wanted to squash her. Wanted her, to rule and control, to   
manipulate and destroy. He was the Goblin King. For every tender thought, there was an   
accompanying smirk and cruel streak.   
  
His kindness did not come free of pain and his vulnerability was edged with blades.   
  
"It looks different than last time I was here."   
  
He twitched in surprise and she turned her head partially to smile shallowly before   
retuning her dark gaze to the city he ruled. He walked so that he was standing directly   
behind her before he let his cold gaze settle upon the well tended buildings that were   
his domain.   
  
"This is the Labyrinth stripped of pretense and illusion. Everyone who walks the maze   
brings their own perceptions and ideas with them. The Labyrinth shapes itself to their   
fancies, and nightmares, as it sees fit."  
  
Sarah laughed hollowly. "Its prettier now. I didn't do it justice."   
  
He said nothing but waited for her to continue. He did not understand Sarah but he knew   
her better than most. He knew her better than she knew herself. Thirteen hours was long   
enough to know anyone when worlds and souls laid in the balance.   
  
"Do people often wish their children away?"   
  
Jareth snorted elegantly. "More often than one would think. Some read the words, some   
dream them, but if they truly desire it, then the magic calls me and I come to dispense   
justice."   
  
"Yes, you would be good at that wouldn't you?"   
  
"How so Sarah?"   
  
She looked up and caught his hooded stare boldly with her own grimly smiling eyes.   
"Because justice doesn't have to be kind. It can be cruel. It can be anything it has to   
be, as long as it does what it needs to do. Ironic isn't it? You were the first one to   
teach me that justice only lies in fairy tales. You brought me to a fairy tale to   
dispense justice."   
  
"I toyed with you," he remarked mildly.   
  
She shrugged her thin shoulders indifferently. "You were only the first. You showed me   
the real world. It simply took magic to do so." Sarah sighed. "Do many win back the   
children they wish away?"   
  
"You were the first." The Goblin King's reply was stiff and frigid.   
  
Silence fell between them and he exercised his last bit of patience. His answers would   
come if he let them.   
  
"What becomes of the children?"   
  
He chuckled richly, amused by the question. "I raise them. I teach them, as I taught   
you, about life. Some remain, some wander, some return to the world that found them so   
lacking and try to live normal lives. I grant them a better lot than they would have   
received otherwise."  
  
Sarah turned to face him again and his laughter died on his smirking lips. There was a   
shadow of pain, of anguish, that made the girl before him a woman, and a stranger. "I   
want to see them."   
  
Jareth started to deny her, but changed his mind abruptly as he reached out and grasped   
one bare hand with his gloved one. They melted like snow as he called his magic   
to him.   
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
He brought them to the nursery.   
  
Jareth left his newest acquisition at the wooden doorway as he entered the room with a   
smile. Goblin nurses nodded deferentially at him and continued their duties of feedings   
and diapering and playing.   
  
He walked with measured treads past the cradles, pausing at each one to greet his favorite   
subjects, to hold small waving fists and stroke fine dark hair. The Goblin King soothed   
cries and coaxed laughs. Only when he was content with his appraisal did he glance back   
at Sarah.   
  
The longing on her face was tangible and painful to see, even for him.   
  
She walked slowly into the room, pausing as he had to look into each cradle and cherish   
each infant's face. When she reached his side her fingers drifted down to touch the soft   
cheek of the little boy sleeping by him.   
  
She was smiling but tears slipped down her cheeks.   
  
"Tell me why you're here Sarah. Tell me why you wished yourself away."   
  
She looked steadily at him as her fingers curled into a fist and returned to her side,   
leaving the infant to his sleep. There was none of her cockiness, or laughter, or bravery   
now, simply the defiant child he had guided to painful adulthood who had stood before him   
decades before.   
  
"I always swore I wouldn't become a statistic." She paused, gathered herself and   
continued, speaking less to him and more for herself, "Did you know that it's possible   
to love someone even when they hit you?"   
  
Pity rose thick like bile in the back of the his throat. Not because of the pain she had   
suffered, because pain was a part of life, but for her to suffer as she did; it was not   
befitting the woman who had defeated the Labyrinth and offered the Goblin King tea.  
  
"I… I left. I couldn't stay. Nothing was harder, except denying you."   
  
She took a deep breath and when she continued her hands trembled noticeably. "I was   
pregnant. I… I lost the baby recently because of natural complications." The last phrase   
was spat out with the contempt of a mourning mother.   
  
Jareth reached up and touched Sarah William's chin. "So you wished yourself away to the   
place where lost children go."  
  
She reached up and brought his hand down, away from her face and the intimate closeness   
it fostered, even with the brevity of his touch. "You offered me my dreams once Jareth,   
this is the only one I have left."   
  
He nodded fiercely once, and stepped away, unnerved again by her tears. "I'll return in   
a short while. We will discuss this more after you have composed yourself."   
  
And he left her among the children he cherished. Because she understood him better than   
he understood himself as well. She deserved a little kindness though, even from him, she   
had more than paid his price of pain.   
  
So Sarah spent the afternoon among children in a realm that many thought was mere make   
believe. She still didn't know if she had made the right choice but she had made the   
only one she knew. Time would tell, as it did all things; she smiled and helped the   
goblin nurses and tried not to think about what her child would have looked like if it   
had lived. 


	7. Chapter Six: Difficult Questions

AN: I went ahead and revised some stuff, tried to make the story   
streamline better. Thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed.   
Here's a short, but new chapter for everyone so patiently, or not   
so patiently, waiting!  
  
And PeachDreamer, great catch with the Peter Pan line. I always   
loved that idea, though its not entirely applicable to this particular   
story... LOL  
  
**************** Take Me Away: Chapter Six ******************  
  
"Who was the man you loved? The man who abused you and fathered your   
dead child?" Jareth asked the question cooly, as if it mattered   
nothing to him, but his mismatched gaze was intent as he studied   
the grown woman before him. They were in the nursery, playing with   
babies, hours after he had left her, to think for himself, to let her  
regroup.  
  
Answers were never easy when it came to Sarah Williams. The key   
often rested in asking the right questions.   
  
She tensed slightly before relaxing and shrugging with a careless   
ease that belied the emotional strain she was under. "No one   
special," Sarah answered softly as she kept her attention on the   
babe in her arms who cooed and gurgled with infant delight.   
  
"You loved him though."   
  
It wasn't a question but she answered anyway, though she almost   
didn't. "I love easily. Its one of my greatest faults."   
  
His severe brows furrowed. "You might have named that your greatest   
attribute once."   
  
Sarah smiled and reached over to pat the Goblin King on the cheek.   
"I wasn't a mourning mother until recently. I've found that it   
changes my perception of the world."   
  
Jareth's lips curled into a frown as he regarded her measuredly.   
"I liked the girl who believed in love better."   
  
Sarah's laugh was bitter and dark. "So did I Jareth, so did I."  
  
She rose and placed the baby boy in his crib while Jareth, bouncing   
his own infant, watched lazily. She spoke with her back to him.   
"Do you realize that there's not a name for someone's who's lost a   
child? You can be a widow, a widower, a single mother, a divorcee,   
but childless mothers... We have no name for our tears. We have   
to tell our stories again and again. We have no stereotype to hide  
behind. We can't offer a single pain filled word for explanation   
to the countless probing of others. Isn't that cruel?"   
  
She glanced over her shoulder and taunted him boldly with her eyes.   
  
"Have you grown fearless in your pain Sarah?" he asked gravely. "Do   
you seek to punish yourself? Or are you simply numb? You play with   
fire when you play with me. I do not deal in trifles."   
  
Her shoulders slumped and she sighed as trembling hands drew a warm   
blanket to the contented baby's chin as he drifted off to an innocent   
sleep. "But you deal Jareth. You can offer me more than anything I   
have left. Even your punishments are release."  
  
"And why, dear Sarah," he asked dryly, "do you dare to presume that   
I will offer you anything at all?"   
  
Her laugh was hollow and real. "Because you are justice and I have   
been sorely dealt with."  
  
"Justice can be cruel Sarah, remember that?" he said mildly, warning   
clear in the hard, fixed features of his face and the flatness of his   
strange, strange eyes.   
  
She shrugged and turned to face him, brown eyes wide and liquid and   
unreadable all at once. "Everything is cruel Jareth. Maybe I simply   
decided that I prefer your cruelty. Its best suites my own after all."   
  
He was startled into laughter that continued until he lay the babe in   
his arms down in the crib to rest as well.  
  
*****************************************************************  
  
"What will you do with me?"   
  
They were walking through the halls of the castle of the Goblin King.   
Jareth was a presence of warmth at her side, dressed in lace and leather   
and silk. He was beautiful in that remote, untoucbale way of his.   
Sarah was still dressed in pajamas but was barefoot. She was beautiful   
in a different kind of untouchable.   
  
"I don't know." The truthful admission startled Sarah and she glanced   
at him. He ignored her but his mouth was tight. "You are ever full of   
surprises. I did not expect this turn of events. I will decide shortly.   
Until then..."  
  
"Show me the Labyrinth."  
  
Jareth's laughter was chilling. "You order me around so well Sarah   
Williams. You are daring..."  
  
"And stupid," she replied with a chill laugh of her own. "You may dunk   
me in the Bog if you wish but, I want to see the Labyrinth. I've missed   
it."  
  
He stopped and turned to stare at her, as if she was a creature never   
before seen and not the grown version of the child who had defied and   
triumphed over him in so many ways. She was more humble now. But she   
was not broken.   
  
"You missed a place that caused so much pain and doubt?"   
  
Sarah reached up boldly and touched finger tips to Jareth's startled cheek.   
"Life is ugly Jareth; you miss everything that's beautiful."  
  
He sucked in a sharp breath and Sarah colored as her hand, curled into a   
fist, returned to her side. The silence between them was deafening.   
  
Jareth broke it. "Let us go see the Labyrinth."   
  
Sarah nodded and offered her hand so that Jareth could transport them.   
He stared at it for a long moment before shrugging carelessly. "Let's   
walk." So they did. 


	8. Chapter Seven: Flowers and Rocks

AN: Reviews rock my socks. Thanks for making me want to continue. It takes effort   
because I'm a lazy bum with a hundred other fics going on. I'm trying for you guys,   
I really am!   
  
*************************** Take Me Away: Chapter Seven ***************************  
  
"These are my private gardens," he said stiffly.   
  
Sarah turned her face up to the evening sky, warm and full, and smiled as breezes played   
with her hair and patted her cheeks. She was still in her infernal pajamas and barefoot   
but she stood unmoving next to the resplendent Goblin King, solid and unyielding in her   
own way.   
  
Sarah wasn't strong enough to break him; simply strong enough to defy him. It was more   
than most.   
  
They were surrounded by what looked like rose bushes, huge ones that reached over ten feet   
in glorious height, blooms expanding as the sun crawled to the western horizon in order to   
reveal yellow stars at their centers.   
  
They were every color of the rainbow and a hundred in between. The garden smelled like   
heaven and winter with Jareth standing next to her, even as he radiated heat. Fountains   
ran the gardens' lengths, shooting jets of colored into the air with a chaotic order that   
hypnotized the eye.   
  
"Its beautiful," Sarah said softly as she wandered over to a bush and hesitantly reached   
out to touch a blossom. "Is it real?"   
  
Jareth's answering smile was cruel. "As real as dreams."   
  
Sarah touched the silken petals. They shattered like glass beneath her touch and she   
laughed even as the shards cut her fingers. She went to step back and her bare feet were   
sliced by fragments as well.   
  
She looked up to find the Goblin King's gaze settled upon her like a heavy cloak. His   
gaze was hooded and speculating. "Are you okay?" he asked and there was danger lurking   
for her in the question. Traps were set for her response.   
  
Sarah smiled bravely and stepped over the remaining fragments, leaving blood behind on the   
white gravel that made her feet sore. "I'm fine," she said easily with a shrug that belied   
the wounds she had just dealt herself.   
  
He stared a heart beat longer and nodded once, fiercely, and Sarah knew she had pleased   
him with her answer, even if she didn't quite understand why. They walked together and   
the scenery changed around them, beneath them, and in a span of twenty minutes Sarah's   
bruised feet had walked on dirt, mud, leaves, sand, water, and granite. It was the   
Labyrinth's magic taking them where it willed. She didn't mind, not truly, because   
everywhere it took them was breathtaking.   
  
"I never would have left if I knew it was this beautiful," she finally said as they sat   
themselves among a sharply cut canyon with sheer walls rising like skyscrapers all around   
them. There were large, fantastic statues carved from the rock, into the rock, crawling   
out of the rock, both from the ground and the cliff face.   
  
Jareth's steady regard settled upon part of his kingdom. "If I had known all it would have   
taken to make you stay was beauty, it would have made both of our lives much simpler."  
  
Sarah chuckled and drew her knees to her chin. They contemplated their thoughts in a   
silence that she chose to break. "Jareth, what happened to my friends? Were they   
real?"  
  
"As real as dreams."   
  
She glared darkly at him and he surprised them both by laughing loudly. "Yes," he finally   
answered, breathless, "well, Ludo is hibernating…"  
  
"Hibernating?" Sarah demanded sourly with raised, disbelieving brows.   
  
Jareth shrugged like liquid. "It's a something his species does. It has life cycles.   
The Ludo you saw was barely out of the nest. He'll hibernate for a century and wake five   
times as large and much more articulate."   
  
"That's convenient."   
  
"Life being convenient isn't unheard of, you know."   
  
This time it was Sarah who broke into spontaneous laughter. "Okay," she replied, wiping   
tears of mirth from her eyes as her feet swung, bare and bruised, from their perch on the   
outcropping rock, "what about the others?"   
  
The Goblin King snorted disdainfully. "The ridiculous fox and his trustworthy steed still   
guard the Bog. Higgle…"  
  
"Hoggle," Sarah chastened absently and Jareth continued, ignoring her.  
  
"He tends my inner gardens. I would have banished him for aiding you but no one else   
quite has his touch with my Forget Me Nots."  
  
"Your Forget Me Nots?" Sarah asked, gentle mocking in his voice. Beside her, Jareth   
bristled.   
  
"Do you really think I would have something that wasn't more than what it seems little  
Sarah?" he demanded, voice dripping open scorn for her mockery, "Remember the roses?"   
  
"You're being cranky."   
  
"You're being naïve."   
  
This time they laughed together, the sound raw but real.   
  
"Why would you want to punish Hoggle for helping me? Is that against the rules?" Sarah   
watched as Jareth's distant gaze settled upon the rim of the canyon. Her eyes sketched   
the slop of his nose and the rise of his cheeks. She watched, fascinated, as his lips   
curled into an elegant sneer.   
  
Disdain was never so beautiful and unreachable. So unbreakable. So vulnerable.   
  
"You were free to make use of whatever resources you could find. You utilized more than   
most. Few contestants ever managed to turn my creatures against me so successfully. I   
didn't besmirch you Ludo or the fox, they were at heart the Labyrinth's pawns. She let   
them fall to your wiles.   
  
"Hoggle was my lackey for a century. His scorn undermined my authority and that was   
unacceptable."   
  
"You were jealous!" Sarah crowed, delighted despite herself.   
  
Jareth chuckled darkly and it sent shivers racing down her spine. "I was surprised.   
That is more of a coup than my jealousy. I am a jealous man by nature; that is hardly a   
victory."   
  
Sarah swallowed her retort under the cold glare of his mismatched eyes, intimidated   
despite herself. She made herself ask the question, though she could have guessed the   
answer, "May I see them?"   
  
Jareth rose and held out one gloved hand. She took it gently and carefully jumped down,   
wincing as her raw feet hit rock. "Maybe."   
  
"Figures," she grumbled as the Labyrinth's magic continued their private tour of all its   
wonders. 


	9. Chapter Eight: Dinner

AN: You guys have letylyf to thank for this chapter being written so soon. All it takes   
is about a hundred wonderful reviews (and by wonderful I mean honest) in a day to get me   
motivated... LOL Enjoy and please, please review! Reviews have kind of been lacking   
in general lately and I want to know what the hell I'm doing wrong, okay? I promise I   
don't bite.   
  
Thanks guys! ~Kei  
************************** Take Me Away: Chapter Eight **************************  
"Why did you never call them?" Jareth asked as they walked, her arm tucked beneath his,   
through the Goblin City. The City, like most of the Labyrinth was changed from the place   
Sarah, in all her inadequacies, had created. It was larger for one, sprawling, with well   
kept if shabby buildings made of wood and stone, like quaint villages tucked between hills   
in the English countryside.   
  
It was the first place they had visited that made Sarah remember what she had forfeited.   
It left a bitter taste in her mouth and Jareth, sensing her unease, lingered with her as   
they strolled down the deserted streets.   
  
It wouldn't do to have Sarah be too comfortable.  
  
She thought for a moment, marshalling her thoughts, as she tried to answer honestly, not   
because Jareth asked, but because she felt like she needed to justify her lacks to herself   
as well. Her friends, whom she had ignored for so long, would never ask why she had   
abandoned them. It wasn't in their nature.   
  
So Jareth asked for them.  
  
He didn't bother to ask why she had never called for him. You didn't call your vanquished   
foe to deal with matter so much beneath him. It wouldn't have been Jareth's nature to   
rescue Sarah from the paths in life she had chosen. He could pity her to an extent, be   
disappointed by the pain she had been forced to endure, but it was beneath him to be her   
savior, her knight.   
  
The Goblin King didn't rescue barefooted women. He took them. The irony made him smile   
unpleasantly.  
  
Sarah finally sighed softly. "I don't think I had a reason. Nothing that would matter.   
Maybe knowing they would never ask about my lack if I should call them one day let me   
forget them so utterly…"  
  
"You didn't forget them though," Jareth replied with brutal clarity. He watched out of   
the corner of his eyes as Sarah smiled and shook her head.   
  
"Maybe I like pain. I stayed with, with HIM even when I could have left for so long. I   
like to endure."   
  
"And suffer," Jareth said, deadpan.   
  
Sarah's smile turned to him, bright and hard and brittle with amusement. "I did wish   
myself away to you."   
  
"You make an excellent point."   
  
"I thought so."   
  
They laughed together and it was sharp, rich, and shallow, like Sarah's smile. There was   
a symmetry to the dark haired woman from Aboveground and the golden Goblin King from Under   
that was strangely beautiful in a frightening sort of way.   
  
Sometimes they even frightened themselves.   
  
"Why is the city so empty?" Sarah finally asked.  
  
Jareth shrugged easily. "Because I wish it and I am King." And there was little more to   
be said than that. It was simply the truth. And truth made Sarah the Goblin King's   
possession, his subject. But she had given herself to that truth.   
  
It was difficult to find a victor in a game that had no rules. Their relationship was   
much more complicated than the Labyrinth that had brought them together.   
  
************************************************************************************  
  
There were clothes waiting for her when they returned to the castle, and Sarah to the room   
she had first woken in from her nightmare. She didn't think of it as 'her' room because   
nothing here was hers.   
  
She was poor in every sense of the word. All she had was charity and the charity of the   
Goblin King was fickle.  
  
A small selection of simply cut but well made dresses were lying out on the large four   
post bed. They were all similar in design and varied mostly in color. A set of   
underclothes lay next to the dresses but there was still a conspicuous lack of shoes.   
  
There was also, thank god, a porcelain bath tub set off to the side, by the burning   
fireplace. Sarah flew to it and was thrilled to find lukewarm water already filled to   
the brim. She stripped without a thought and climbed gingerly into the tub, sore from   
the days activities.   
  
The water stung her scrapes and bruises but she didn't care. There was a bar of rough   
soap on the ground by the bathtub and she made thorough use of it- Sarah knew she had to   
be rather ripe by now- it'd been two days since she'd bathed last in a world she was no   
longer a part of.   
  
The water was gray when she finally rose, stiff from the small tub. There wasn't a towel   
but she went ahead and put the plain white underclothes on before yanking the green dress   
over her head, not caring if it got wet.   
  
There wasn't a mirror or vanity in the room so she combed her long hair with her fingers   
the best she could before shrugging and tying it up in a sloppy bun. Sarah was hardly   
here to impress.   
  
She had no sooner finished before there was a knock on her door. She didn't have time to   
answer it before it swung open and Jareth filled the doorway. He was dressed like the   
King he was, in silks and lace and a hundred shades of gray. His hair framed his   
unreadable, angular face like gold cloud with silver lining and his mismatched stare raked   
her silently. Without a word he held out his gloved hand.   
  
"Dinner."   
  
It wasn't a question.   
  
She padded gingerly forward and accepted the proffered arm. Her feet left wet prints   
behind.   
  
************************************************************************************  
  
Dinner was a lonely affair, just Sarah and Jareth alone in a large rectangular dining   
hall which was filled with an elegant, elaborate oak table that ran the length of the   
room. The room itself was as beautiful as the rest of the castle, with high vaulting   
ceilings and stone walls warmed with rich tapestries that were intricate and abstract   
at the same time. Chandeliers lit the room with the glow of a thousand candles, though   
Sarah doubted the candles ever went out, or melted.   
  
Magic was handy like that.   
  
There were two place settings out, with food already spread out at them, on at the end of   
the table, the other next to it. Jareth took the end seat with his usual timeless grace   
as he slid into the high backed chair, throwing one leg over the arm rest as he slouched   
bonelessly.   
  
Sarah struggled for a minute to pull her cumbersome chair out as Jareth watched with   
hooded eyes. She finally sat, flushed, primly at the edge, uncomfortable suddenly in   
the rich solitary atmosphere.   
  
"Do you always eat alone?" she asked, irritated, as she stare down at the unfamiliar foods   
before her. At least she recognized the utensils. Forks, knives, spoons, she was good.   
  
"Do you always eat with others?" Jareth asked lazily as he spun a knife carelessly in his   
gloved hands.   
  
Sarah grumbled. "I hate arguing with you. I don't get to win nearly enough."   
  
"And yet, you loose even more rarely," Jareth replied with quiet disdain as the knife   
clattered to the table.   
  
She beamed like a proud mother and reached for her saucer. She took a sip without paying   
attention and grimaced. "Oh come on Jareth, isn't this taking it a bit far? I mean, you   
could have at least served wine for dinner…"  
  
It was Jareth turn to smile, a smirk that curled his lips into something handsome and not   
nearly as serious. "But Sarah," he asked innocently, fierce as a contented tiger, "I   
thought you liked tea!" 


	10. Chapter Nine: Reunions

AN: Guess what? I'm alive, and posting... will wonders never cease? I'd   
love some feedback on this chapter. I was lukewarm on it but letylyf (Irene),   
my beta, made me happy I wrote it. :) Speaking of beta-ing, any mistakes   
within are mine. Also, standard disclaimers apply, as usual.  
  
Happy readings.   
  
**************** Take Me Away: Chapter Nine ******************  
  
Sarah sung to herself as she dusted paintings older than humanity, the very   
mundane feather duster moving in swift strokes as she strained to reach the top   
of the frames from her precarious position on the footstool. She was barefoot   
and dressed in a simple linen dress, hair pulled back in a snug braid, slender   
waist given definition by the apron she always wore when cleaning.   
  
Dirt smudged one cheek and she was sweaty from working since dawn. She was   
grubby and beautiful in one breath as her clear voice carried through the   
corridors of the Goblin King's castle. She shouldn't be beautiful, but she   
was. Beautiful and real and alive and so mortal. So happy. She shone with   
a measure of inner peace she had only briefly known once before in life, when   
another life had grown within her womb.  
  
Jareth watched her, his subject, his, as she worked, oblivious to his presence.   
She was better than the life he had granted her, as a maid, a housekeeper, a   
caretaker for all the lost children. Though this life was better than the one   
she had made for herself Aboveground.  
  
He was not kind to Sarah Williams. He didn't know how to be. She was too   
much to him. He didn't know to be gentle with things he treasured. The   
Goblin King didn't know how to nurture frailty, not when his own heart was   
made of steel.  
  
But Sarah didn't need to be coddled. She knew, better than any, what she was   
doing when she gave herself to him. She understood him… sometimes she   
understood him better than he understood himself. If she had wanted pity, she   
could have stayed among people who understood mortality, death.   
  
Her loss, though painful, meant little to him. His compassion was reserved   
for things he could understand. Death, loss, were nearly foreign in his life.   
Even time bowed to the Goblin King.  
  
Jareth cleared his throat to announce himself, crop tapping impatiently at   
his boot heel. She ignored him for a minute until she was finished cleaning,   
then climbed down the stool with swift grace before turning to him, a small   
smile curling her full lips into a smirk he recognized as his own.   
  
He felt a swift surge of pride as he smiled, canines showing, and offered her   
his arm. "Come," came the impatient command.   
  
Sarah blinked once, liquid gaze speculative, but merely bowed shallowly before   
crossing the distance that separated them and placing her hand on his arm.   
Jareth watched the slender flashing of her bare ankles as she walked, and let   
his mismatched gaze be drawn to her work roughened hand when she laid it in his   
keeping.   
  
His free hand came up, gloved in kidskin gloves, and caressed her knuckles with   
long fingertips. Sarah raised dark brows in silent query, amused, and the   
Goblin King rumbled with ill-concealed laughter. Heart lighter than it had been   
in a millennium, he grasped her small hand securely within his own.  
  
They danced to music neither dared to name as they crossed lines they were never   
meant to cross in their time together. There were no rules. Sometimes Jareth   
wondered if there was even a game anymore. Sometimes it seemed like his entire   
world had narrowed and all he had left were the moves he and Sarah glided to.   
  
He was her King. He owned her in every way possible. He owned her fealty, her   
life, her body and soul. But in turn he was responsible for her, for her   
welfare, and for her happiness to some extent. She was his to protect and he   
would protect her when he wouldn't have for years past. Because she was his and   
no one threatened what he claimed.   
  
She was his subject and yet, she wasn't subservient. Jareth had never broken   
her. He had simply gathered the pieces she gave him. She had *given* herself   
to him in full knowledge of what that meant. Perhaps she was the only one who   
truly knew what it meant to have Jareth be her ruler.   
  
He owned Sarah Williams only because she had chosen to give herself to him.   
No other was so brave, or foolish. No other had had defeated him in his   
Labyrinth since its creation, since his creation. One mortal had bested him   
twice now, once by bringing the Goblin King to his knees, once by kneeling   
before him and declaring him her lord, her master, her King.   
  
Magic as swift and merciless as winter came at his call, leaving the scent of   
first snowfall behind. Sarah was fitting in well in the place she had forged   
in his kingdom.  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
She looked around his private gardens, face interested but distant. Jareth   
smiled. He knew she was remembering his roses and the scars they had left behind.   
Dreams were never easy to touch. Neither were memories. Sometimes though, you   
could manage a fleeting impression of both, if he willed it.  
  
There was low mutterings and fierce cursing. Jareth's smile dimmed into neutrality   
as Hoggle shuffled around the corner, pruning shears in gnarled hands. He felt   
Sarah still beside him.   
  
Before them, Hoggle froze as well, face twisted between desperate hope and utter   
despair. "Sarah?" he whispered as he stumbled forward a step.   
  
There was a half sob from the woman at his side and she looked at him, begging   
permission she never would have asked for a decade ago, two. With a slight nod,   
he obliquely granted his subjects what they most desired.   
  
Sarah ran, bare fleet flashing dirtied soles at her King, as she flung herself at   
Hoggle. The dwarf embraced her roughly, shears tossed aside, their voices a   
babble of emotion as they tried to bridge the distance that the years had made.  
  
He finally pulled back enough to cradle the woman's face with gnarled, work   
roughened hands. "You're here."   
  
Sarah smiled at her old friend. "There's nowhere I'd rather be."   
  
Hoggle tilted his head and studied her before sighing. "Poor child," he murmured   
in reply and kissed her brow with an eloquence that surprised even the   
unflappable Goblin King. He did not ask what had brought her to Jareth's heel   
though, or what had kept her from calling him to her side. It wasn't Hoggle's   
place to judge.   
  
Sarah had Jareth for that.  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
She visited Hoggle in the evenings, when Jareth thought to spare her to send her   
on her way. He took her too, to visit Sir Didymus, still faithfully guarding   
the Bog with typical foolish ferocity. She cleaned during the day and tended   
babies, her untrained voice filling Jareth's castle with the sound of mortality.   
  
And still they danced in perfect symmetry, a dangerous blend of darkness and   
light, power and weakness, masculinity and femininity. They danced until both   
were sharp and soft and neither knew when one started and the other began.   
Jareth and Sarah touched and feinted, ducked and passed each other by with   
deadly grace unique to their relationship.   
  
They drew their breath in unison.   
  
She slipped beneath his covers late one night, as candles burned low and wax   
dripped to the floor. Jareth waited for her to speak but it wasn't a new game,   
simply another move in the dance. He kissed her in silence and smiled when   
her cold, bare feet brushed against his warm skin. They danced through the   
night and slept past dawn and neither managed to win, despite their power   
struggles.  
  
Neither would admit defeat though, and the nights Sarah didn't go to Jareth's   
bed, he sought out hers. Demeaned himself by sleeping on the coarse cotton   
sheets in the small, drafty room he had given her. On those nights his feet   
were cold and Sarah laughed as she warmed him with the distant compassion he   
had taught her. 


	11. Chapter Ten: Arrivals and Departures

AN: First off, I really want to thank everyone who has been reviewing,   
new and old reviewers. Its wonderful to hear from you all. Just a heads   
up, some character questions should be cleared up a bit in the last (next)   
chapter so, stay tuned. It shouldn't take too long to post hopefully.  
  
As always, I'm absolutely blown away by your responses.   
  
Also, I know I always thank Irene, my beta (letylyf on FF.Net), but she   
really helped make this chapter stronger with some good constructive   
suggestions. Also, as a result, there's probably more mistakes than   
usual because I rewrote things... LOL Any comments would be more than   
welcome.   
  
*************** Take Me Away: Chapter Ten *****************  
  
Jareth knew before she did. Watched the subtle changes that Sarah didn't   
notice, or wouldn't. His gloved fingers would brush the slender concave   
curve of her stomach as he passed her, or as she slept, shivering from the   
ghost of his feather light touch. He waited as long as he dared, willing   
to give her a measure of ignorance since she seemed to wish it so. Jareth   
chose to respect the wishes of others occassionally, because it was in his   
power to do so and because it was against his nature. Predictability was   
more boring than death. Perhaps that was why Sarah fascinated him so,   
with all her contradictions of laughter and despair.   
  
He watched her play with the children in the nursery and found himself   
smiling crookedly, expressive lips baring canines in a half wondering   
expression of near contentment. The Goblin King waited in silence as he   
contemplated the truth of his impending fatherhood with fierce   
posessiveness.   
  
He waited until he found Sarah retching one morning when he woke to a cold   
and empty bed. Jareth stood, leaning against the wall with bare feet,   
carelessly clad in a white silk robe. His glorious hair was tied back,   
making his features sharper, more severe than normal as his lips pursed   
with marked disapproval.  
  
"How long does this morning sickness last?" came the disdainful question.   
  
The elegant line of Sarah's bared shoulders stiffened at the sound of his   
voice, then relaxed with a visible force of will. A silken waterfall of   
rich sable hair obscured her face from view as she wiped her mouth with   
the back of one hand. She threw her hair back defiantly, refusing the   
obscurity it granted.   
  
Her cheeks were flushed against her pale face, dark eyes wide and   
unblinking as she held the Goblin King's stare with unwavering   
determination.   
  
He sighed, bored, "Will you make me say the words?"   
  
She laughed with a trace of bitterness and faint relief. "No, this   
is not… not the first time."   
  
Jareth watched, impassive, as old wounds opened and scarred again before   
his eyes. He would not look away, but he would not cause more pain, not   
over this. He would not let Sarah be a statistic twice; he had always   
abhorred repetition. Sarah took a deep breath and controlled the tears   
he had ignored in a rare show of deference.  
  
"No more cleaning," he ordered as an afterthought, "You will restrict   
yourself to less strenuous activities for the duration of your  
incapacitation." He paused one beat, as if waiting for her arguments,   
but she surprised him, as she so often did.   
  
Sarah smiled up at him, the knowledge of their intertwined lives dancing   
in her eyes. She looked beautiful suddenly, even sitting on the cold   
stone floor in rumpled pajamas. The impossibility of her beauty was   
staggering. The fact that he could touch that beauty, taste it, sample   
it, own it, made it burn all the brighter for him.  
  
Jareth was unused to controlling fire. Sarah blazed.  
  
"Of course, my King."   
  
He would learn to control the fire though, or at least learn how to avoid   
being burned. The Goblin King laughed as she retched again. He knelt by   
her side and held her fine hair away from harm over her protestations and   
sullen anger, enjoying her discomfort at his presence.   
  
***************************************************************  
  
Months passed and seasons flew by at the Labyrinth's whim. Sarah   
continued much as she had before, swelling with a new life she didn't-   
couldn't- quite bring herself to trust in. After all, she had been   
betrayed before.   
  
She couldn't stop herself from singing some mornings, and placing   
disbelieving hands on the rise of her stomach, feeling the strained flesh   
that was hers, yet strange and foreign as well. Hoggle and Sir Didymus   
treated her much the same, though sometimes she caught Hoggle watching her   
with a mixture of fear and awe. Ludo slumbered on. Jareth took her to him   
one day, to see for herself, to say hello in his sleep deafened ears and   
stroke the thick fur she remembered so well.   
  
Jareth himself treated her exactly as he had before, fighting with her over   
tea, strolling with her through gardens that were as deadly as they were   
beautiful. They laughed as they taunted each other, sly barbs taking the   
place of a normal couple's affections.   
  
She still shared his bed, and he still climbed into hers. There was a sense   
of timelessness to their routine that made her feel strangely content, at   
peace. She could never forget her demons, or the very bad months that had   
lead to her loving the Goblin King, but she was happy despite her memories.   
Only the growth of her stomach betrayed the passing of time.   
  
***************************************************************  
  
The happiness unnerved Sarah, especially as it lasted with dogged   
determination. Little in her life had been stable, healthy, good. Her   
life with Jareth was not easy but it was all of the things she had never   
thought possible for herself. Her escape to the Underground had become her   
destination. The realization was not a comfortable one.   
  
She slept alone one night, not going to his bedroom and choosing instead to   
shiver in the cold room she now called home. He said nothing the next   
morning when he joined her for breakfast; like Hoggle and Didymus, there were   
some questions the Goblin King would never ask her.  
  
Couldn't.   
  
Breakfast was served with cold tea and roses in glass vases. Sarah snorted   
at the delicate threat and touched the briallant petals gently. She grinned   
as they shattered with her touch, cutting her fingers with a thousand   
sharpened shards.   
  
Amused sable eyes met stormy mismatched green and blue. "Dreams aren't the   
only thing that can shatter, Jareth."  
  
His mouth was pinched when she rose from the table and leaned to press a cool   
kiss on his brow before walking with slow confidence out of the dining room,   
leaving uneaten food behind. She felt fraile under the glare of his steely   
gaze though. He made her strong and weak in so many ways. It wasn't that   
Sarah was unused to vulnerability; she simply didn't know how to handle feeling   
safe despite her weaknesses. Jareth might make her bleed, but she knew, knew   
with a certainty that would last a lifetime, that no one could ever hurt her   
but him. He would protect her, shelter her, from everything but his own   
temper and of all the world, only Sarah had successfully survived the temper   
of the Goblin King.  
  
She had asked Jareth to take her away to end her life, not to begin it; the   
growth of the child within her womb made her a hypocrite with every blessed   
heartbeat. Made her feel trapped in a life she had learned to love and  
treasure, because now that she had come, she feared she would never be able to   
leave.   
  
He watched as her naked feet mocked him with their passing before cursing   
vividly in the silence that followed Sarah's departure.   
  
***************************************************************  
  
He should have expected it when he woke in the middle of the night, alone as   
he had been for the last few weeks of Sarah's pregnancy, with knowledge that   
made his pale glare glow wither repressed anger. Jareth dressed quickly,   
somberly, and stole down the darkened hallways of the Goblin Castle. He could   
have transported himself to the room he had spent so much time in, but some   
things were better for their delayed knowledge.   
  
It was no time at all anyway before he was standing in front of the open door,   
staring silently into an empty room. She was gone, swallowed by the night and   
the Labyrinth that used to be her foe. Her scant belongings were arranged   
neatly, with the finality of her departure hanging in the air.   
  
He counted to ten, twice, and restrained himself enough to walk to the window,   
impatiently brushing away memories of his most troublesome subject. It was   
snowing outside and a blanket of growing white made the Labyrinth seem even   
more beautiful, the beauty of his roses.   
  
Jareth's breath frosted the thick glass as he whispered, "Very good Sarah,   
very good. If you survive I'll be proud of you, surprised though I know   
better, but proud."   
  
His shoulders were stiff but unbowed as he returned to his room and slipped   
beneath the warmth of the covers. Sleep came easily, despite his many worries,   
simply because he had come to know Sarah, as much perhaps as she knew him.   
There was an understanding to their lifelong dance that had not been present   
during their thirteen hour game. The child who bested him with such wide eyed   
arrogance had been replaced by a woman who had nightmares in his arms and who   
ran barefoot freely across his realm as she carried his child.   
  
If he let her go, if he let her choose, she would stay. She simply had to   
walk out of his world first, to prove she could. Jareth placed implicit trust   
in few creatures. He trusted in himself though, trusted in the lessons he had   
learned through an eternity of life. He would trust in Sarah because his heart   
told him so. He was not so flawed to pick a woman, a future Queen, who did not   
know and accept her King. And when she returned willing to his arms, he could   
throttle her for her impertinence. 


	12. Chapter Eleven: Resolution

AN: Whoah, its done. I'd like to take a moment to thank each   
and every person who took the time to review, good or bad, it   
means the world to me. Now that I've said that, feel free to   
leave reviews about this last chapter. I ask all regulars, lurkers,   
and first time readers to share their thoughts. I'd love to hear   
them. Enjoy the read and hopefully I'll see you all soon with a   
shiny new Laby series!  
  
PS: This has been reposted post editing. Thanks Irene!  
  
***************** Take Me Away: Chapter Eleven ******************  
  
Sarah was having a bad day- actually a very bad day that had started   
as a particularly bad night. She hadn't had a bad day in a very long   
while. She could have done without having one again.   
  
Her lips were blue with cold and her teeth were chattering with each   
fierce gust of winter wind that whipped around her, freezing her   
blood and turning her to ice. She placed number fingers over her   
stretched stomach as she stumbled through the outskirts of the   
Labyrinth.  
  
It felt horrible and right with every step she put between her and   
the Goblin King. Horrible because of things she barely knew   
how to admit to herself, even as she fled from them in the fiercest of   
winter's blizzards. Horrible because every step towards independence   
made her more and more alone and she hated it, hated the emptiness   
that was only partially filled by the life growing within her.   
  
It felt right though, because she needed him too badly. Every day,   
every hour, every moment of hope and happiness made her remember other   
smiles and caresses that had turned to slaps and eventually, fists.   
She hated the emptiness but she needed it, if only to prove that she   
could have it, if she wanted.   
  
And she didn't want it dammit! She wanted Jareth, angry and sullen   
and frightening. She wanted him in a thousand different ways, wanted   
to see how every moment made him tease and rage in turn. But she   
couldn't stay until she knew she could leave.   
  
Sarah wouldn't be trapped again; there were no more Goblin Kings to call   
on since her last desperate action had become her most treasured   
beginning.  
  
She had walked through his private gardens with the mocking roses,   
through landscapes that were familiar and fantastical as they shifted   
and churned at will. She could feel the Labyrinth watching her as it   
hurled ice and wind and snow at her, could feel its approval as it   
reveled in her endurance and her pain.  
  
She could feel it watching her with its magic as she paused before the   
last wall of its kingdom, but it was nothing compared to the stare of the   
Goblin King. His multicolored glare could cut through her like the storm   
could, peeling away the few defenses left around her heart to scoff at   
what lay beneath.   
  
He hadn't followed her, wouldn't, but she could feel his rage, his   
terrible kingly fury.   
  
Sarah paused before the gates of the Labyrinth and stared beyond at the   
wasteland she had entered from, where peach trees withered in the harsh   
face of winter. She wondered whose dreams died when the fruit fell,   
remembered her own dreams and suddenly didn't care.   
  
Feet, frozen and muddied, and still painfully barefoot, lingered but a   
minute more before stepping across the invisible threshold. Sarah left   
the Labyrinth with her head held high and chin defiantly raised.   
  
It disappointed and cheered her beyond belief when Jareth didn't come.   
  
Sarah walked through a desert of barren peach trees as she moved beyond   
the Goblin King's realm. Frozen sand crunched beneath her sore heels,   
bloodying them so that she left red trailing behind her like ribbons on   
the harsh ground. The wind sang as it howled, fierce and untamed,   
unhindered by maze walls, free to claw at her hair and scant layers of   
clothing.   
  
She walked because she didn't know how to stop, how to stay, walked   
until her strength failed her, and she took deep panting breaths that   
mocked her weakness. The sand had shifted to brittle grass, yellowed   
and thigh high. It stretched as far as the eye could see, a sea to   
drown in.   
  
Sarah stumbled to a halt and slipped beneath the waves as she slid to   
her knees. Chapped lips were smiling as she cried, put thin arms   
protectively around her middle and rocked. She whispered the words as   
night claimed the sky, casting her in a physical darkness that befitted   
the state of her soul. "I wish… I wish the Goblin King would come and   
take me home, right now!"   
  
***************************************************************  
  
He didn't come right away. It would have surprised her if he had, he   
was Jareth after all, and lived to serve the summons of no one, even the   
woman who carried his child. He did come but that wasn't the   
important thing. The important thing was that she had called him.   
  
Had asked for him.  
  
His hands were warm as they touched frozen cheeks, gentle as the mighty   
Goblin King pillowed her weary head on his lap. "You shouldn't have   
left," he said stiffly, a different kind of cold as he burned in his   
fury.   
  
When Sarah slowly opened her eyes he didn't look angry though, just  
tired and relieved, distant as always, but the concern in his touch   
betrayed him. He put his own boots on her bare feet, gathered her   
carefully in his arms as the storm howled and the grass bent, and finally,   
finally, took her home.   
  
***************************************************************  
  
The castle was warm, the chair he deposited her in soft beyond belief.   
  
"Will you stay now?" Jareth demanded crossly as he knelt to gently take   
off the snow caked boots from her swollen feet. He stared up at her,   
imperious face lined with the weariness of eternity and the cautious   
hope of stolen mortality. His features were sharp as ever, his mouth   
cruel with its insightfulness, beautiful with its veiled truths.   
  
Sarah smiled crookedly at him, her own eyes weary beyond belief and dark   
with memories of the mortality, the hope she had wanted to leave behind   
with her naiveté and innocence. She reached down and traced his   
cheekbones with numb fingers, feeling a thrill of power as the Goblin   
King tensed and shivered with her touch, because of the warmth of her   
chilled touch. "Will I always have the choice to leave?"  
  
Anger bloomed and died in the pale ice of his eyes, leaving shadows   
behind. "Yes," Jareth finally whispered harshly, willingly giving back   
some of the power that Sarah had granted him.   
  
She nodded once, accepting the gift of his limited kindness while   
acknowledging the remaining steel. The Goblin King would never be a   
weak man and she needed the knowledge of his strength. It made her   
stronger because he was her King.   
  
He was her dance partner in life, for life.   
  
Sarah leaned forward and pressed blue lips to his brow, lingering until   
she was flushed. "Then I'll stay."  
  
A broken sigh left him as a suddenly ungloved hand reached up and rested,   
palm down, on their joined hope. Their child kicked once, hard, in   
reaction, and Jareth grinned ferally as Sarah winced. "Tea?" he asked   
as he rose fluidly with a panther's still grace.   
  
She rose laboriously without his help before taking the proffered arm.   
"Yes," came the stiff, dignified response, "green tea please, with rose   
petals."   
  
Jareth's pealed laughter rang in the halls of his castle as he and his   
future Queen walked barefoot to slowly fetch their tea. Together, they   
left wet footprints behind.   
  
"Oh Lord, what fools life makes of us all, human, Goblin King, and   
everything in between." 


End file.
